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Relationship Counseling. Marriage Advice. Family Counseling.

Marriage and Family Therapy is a Systemic Approach to therapy. What's special about this approach is that it transcends simple cause and effect explanations, which tend to see the problem(s) as a result of deficits within the individual. Marriage & Family Therapy includes those aspects of the client's context, past and present, in the therapy process which will help them manage, resolve or better understand their difficulty. The interconnectedness of people, beliefs and all things is central. "Circular causation replaces the more typical blaming of another person".

Therapist and client work together to explore the presenting problem focusing on the interactions and beliefs that maintain the difficulty. The acceptance of the interconnectedness of biological, social and psychological parts of the problem help clients to better deal with choices and conflicts by establishing new patterns of understanding.

This systemic focus sees the family as one of the strongest influences on our developing view of 'reality'. It is in the early years that our beliefs and behaviors are most significantly impacted. In adult life we can be thrown into turmoil, experience self-doubts, have destructive feelings, struggle with intimacy, feel depressed, etc. Often these feelings may be started off by something relatively simple and the underlying feelings are frequently more to do with aspects of our early family life. With more recent traumas our feelings and ways of dealing with the experience can become more healthy in Family Therapy.

Some forms of therapy establish long-term relationships with their clients. With Marriage and Family Therapy goals are usually achieved in a relatively short period. The goals are worked toward in every session and 'homework' is suggested in most sessions.